Chapter 180

Chapter 180

Don’t Leave Me!

***

“Don’t leave me!”

As Noah stared at Lian’s golden eyes, which shimmered beautifully, the image of him smiling and promising to return soon came vividly to her mind.

She had wanted to protect him. Even if it meant using her own life as if it were nothing, she wanted to protect him. For that reason, she had swung her sword and tried to learn everything that could possibly help. But in the end… she couldn’t protect him. She couldn’t even hold him back as he walked toward death.

While she was foolishly debating whether her desires were normal or not, he quietly left her side, like a forest overtaken by winter.

Her worries were something that could only exist with him by her side, but she realized that only after losing everything.

Since losing him, her tongue had stiffened as if paralyzed, making it impossible to speak, and no matter what food she ate, she couldn’t taste a thing.

Even Lily’s touch, shaking her body, felt distant, as if she were watching from the outside. The sounds around her echoed as if she were submerged underwater.

Though only Lian had disappeared, her entire world had ended.

It felt as though invisible hands were pulling her down, deeper and deeper. Along with the overwhelming fear came a surge of anger directed at herself. It was as if she had become a judge in hell, consumed by the urge to tear her own body apart.

If she hadn’t wandered through dreams, would she have tried to hang herself in reality? At the very least, she might have cut off her useless wrists.

She had no place left to retreat. Her surroundings were filled with despair, fear, and anger. The place where she stood was hell itself, and the sweet, recurring dreams were a heavenly punishment.

‘I should have taken on that death myself.’

Noah’s eyes no longer looked at Lian. They were fixed on the spot where Lian had once walked into the ominous flames with a grin.

‘I should have died. I should have… I should have thrown myself into that place.’

Had this been reality, her thoughts would have ended there. But this place was the deepest part of Noah’s mind, where she could delve into her thoughts without restraint. The sharp thoughts she had buried deep within suddenly surfaced.

‘Could I really have done that?’

Noah’s fingertips trembled slightly. A colossal presence, one that humans were not even permitted to perceive, emerged vividly in her mind, sending chills down her spine.

‘If I had stood where Lian had, could I have thrown myself into those flames?’

Though she knew the question was meaningless, Noah couldn’t stop asking herself.

‘No—… I… I wouldn’t have done it. I would have been foolishly lying there, praying for someone to save me.’

At that time, Noah had been the only one who spoke, even when the Duke couldn’t move a muscle. Unlike Lian, who possessed divine powers, she was just a mere human, powerless and yet trying to defy the gods.

What she had seen was the image of someone who transcended the limits of their soul to protect others, the kind of figure only a hero could embody. But to Noah, who was consumed by guilt, it appeared as nothing more than a thousand tails.

She wanted to strip away everything, to the point where not even a trace of herself remained. It showed just how large a part of her life Lian had been.

Swoosh.

Noah, who had been endlessly wounding herself in the prison of ‘guilt,’ snapped back to reality at a sudden sensation. Only then did she realize that the ‘fake’ Lian, who had just been watching her, had grabbed her arm.

The ‘fakes’ created in her dreams only repeated the actions of the Lian she remembered. They never showed new behaviors. But now—… this Lian had pulled her into his embrace, holding her so tightly that it took her breath away.

“Ah…”

The harsh, growling voice that had been escaping her throat was gone, replaced by a soft, weak sound that scattered across Lian’s shoulder. Without realizing it, Noah reached out and wrapped her arms around his torso.

Her body froze, overwhelmed by a mixture of confusion and unknown emotions. Only after her hands trembled from the tingling sensation spreading through her body did she finally recognize what she was feeling.

Hope, anticipation, and a sense of relief so strong it brought tears to her eyes.

Just the fact that this ‘fake’ was acting differently made Noah foolishly harbor ‘hope.’ The irrational thought that maybe this wasn’t a dream, after all, began to paralyze her reason.

‘No, no.’

But that hope didn’t last long. Once she realized it was a dream, a terrifying sense of reality took over her body. It was an undeniable feeling, like someone who had fallen from a great height but remained unscathed, only to realize, ‘Ah, this is a dream.’

‘Yes, after so many repetitions, it’s about time… for a new type of dream to appear.’

Rational thoughts flickered through her mind, but her body didn’t follow. It felt like her heart was pounding deep inside her abdomen, and it seemed as if it would burst out of her chest. Her entire body tingled, and her vision shattered into white fragments, like someone who had been sitting in the wrong position for too long.

Her eyes grew red and swollen, and her arms clung desperately to the warmth, refusing to let go. Contrary to her rational thoughts, her body reacted honestly.

‘Get a grip… Get a grip. This is… an insult to Lian, who has already left this world.’

She bit her lip hard, forcing her expression to harden. She didn’t want to mock Lian any longer in her dreams, so she tried to push him away. No, she intended to push him away.

“I like you.”

“…?!”

Before she could do anything, an unimaginable confession struck her ears. Her lips, which had been trembling, parted slightly, and her expression softened to an almost foolish extent. A voice filled with affection, a voice she had never heard before, whispered again.

“I like you, Noah.”

Noah, with a face as blank as a child tasting sugar for the first time, couldn’t say a word. She couldn’t even think of saying that he was a fake. Her mind was completely blank, turned white.

When she finally managed to move her eyes, she saw his ears, flushed red.

“Uh, uh…”

As she stammered out incoherent sounds, Lian let out a small laugh and pulled away. His awkward smile and flushed face were etched deeply into her memory.

“Do I still seem like a fake?”

It was only after hearing that question that Noah snapped back to her senses as if struck by lightning. She had been avoiding meeting his gaze, but now she realized that Lian’s eyes were different from usual.

The golden eyes she met through his white eyelashes were far deeper and more enchanting than the fake ones she had encountered in her dreams. It was a color so mesmerizing that she couldn’t have imagined it herself.

“…No?”

As Noah’s dazed answer escaped her lips, the dream world began to collapse. The shock was so great that it was causing her to wake up from the dream. Panicking, Noah quickly pulled him into her arms and shouted.

“…! No, no! Lian… Lian, don’t leave me! It’s all my fault… so…!”

As Noah desperately clung to Lian, he embraced her tightly, patting her back as if to reassure her.

Crack, boom!

Like a set being dismantled, the dream’s cabin and the dried-up path crumbled away, revealing a blank white space. Noah, the owner of the dream, realized that once the ground beneath her completely collapsed, she would be fully awake.

“No, I don’t want this…! Stop it! Why… why is this happening? It’s my dream…! Please, stop…!”

The more Noah sank into despair, the faster the dream crumbled. The flower by her bedside had determined she was having a nightmare.

Without a word, Lian patted her back and finally spoke.

“Noah, I’m ‘not’ dead yet.”

“What…?”

“After I entered those flames, I was kidnapped to the Demon King’s castle. I’m trapped right now, but…”

Lian wasn’t dead.

That fact alone hammered itself into Noah’s mind, branding her heart and making it race.

“I can’t come back to you right away, but… I wanted to let you know I’m safe.”

Lian continued in a lighthearted tone.

“You know how fast I heal. There’s no way I’d die, so don’t worry.”

Lian, who had been watching Noah’s stunned expression, gently pulled her hand to his cheek, rubbing his face against it as he spoke.

“I can’t promise it’ll be soon… but I’ll definitely return. Wait for me.”

Noah opened her mouth, trying to respond.

Rumble.

The ground beneath them crumbled, and her vision was swallowed by white. Even as everything turned white, as if she had gone blind, the warmth of his embrace remained etched into her body like the scar from a burn.

***

“Ah…”

Tears, which she thought had long dried, streamed down Noah’s face as she woke with a start. Her face was soaked with tears, blurring her vision.

“Lian…”

Her voice, hoarse from a long period of disuse, barely managed to utter his name. Unlike before, when her voice had been filled with despair, it now carried a fragile glimmer of hope.

From that day on, Noah rose from her bed and took up her sword once more.

A little time passed, and the armies of the Demon King and the Empire began to clash in earnest. At the same time, tales of a brown-haired hero, known by the moniker ‘The Ruthless Guardian,’ who was sweeping through the Demon King’s forces, spread through the mouths of bards.

While the knight, awakened by the heroine(??)’s encouragement, was cutting down enemies like a madman, Lian, having returned in a slime-like state, was rolling on the ground in agony.

‘There were other things I could have said!’

To prove he wasn’t a fake, he had said something he would never normally say (a confession), and now he was dying of embarrassment.

‘Confessions should be made more romantically, with a hundred candles lit… and a thousand flowers prepared… I should have worn a white suit too…’

If anyone had heard his thoughts, they would have clapped, saying that his confession had been the best.

“Why am I like this lately?”

“…!”

The Demon King suddenly scooped up the rolling Lian, holding him like a beloved doll.

End of Chapter